Mission: Departures (Chains of Promathia, ch.5)
-I head back to Tarnotik. He saw Jabbos go back down to the mine shaft, but locked a door behind him and wants to be left alone. I’ll need a Gold Key to reach him.
-MIRACLE OF MIRACLES I HAVE ONE!! Must’ve picked it up from the Moblins I killed when exploring this zone. I go back down to the mine shaft.
-Jabbos is here. He still wants to try convincing the Moblins. “I just need… more time… more… time…”
-But it’s too late. Jabbos hasn’t been able to convince the Moblins for the last 100 years. How disheartening. Jabbos really had good intentions. And we’ve met good individual Moblins before!
LOUVERANCE: “The boy we are after, Selh’teus – the Moblins will never betray him because that is the will of their species. And the will of their species is that of the Twilight God, Promathia – the same will that Selh’teus inherited over ten thousand years ago.”
I guess Selh’teus really is the incarnation of Promathia. Does that get Prishe off the hook?
-Jabbos protests. Claims the Moblins were tricked. Huh?
-Long ago, the Moblins were searching for “an iron giant bathed in light.” Their legend held that the iron giant would give them power. So they began digging. Instead of an iron giant, they found the Promathia statue.
-They thought this was their legendary iron giant. But no matter how much they prayed to the statue, no matter how many offerings they gave, the statue gave them nothing in return.
-AHA! So THIS is why the Moblins lashed out. They left the caves, started attacking people, kidnapping, pillaging, all because they were desperate to find an answer to why this legendary object wouldn’t respond to them.
-Jabbos researched this statue and learned it was the statue of Promathia, not the Moblins’ legendary iron giant. But this truth didn’t make them stop. Just the opposite.
-The Moblins’ changed their beliefs away from this iron giant legend, thinking that they were the children of Promathia, destined to hate and destroy the children of Altana.
-That’s why Jabbos stays down here. To try to convince them of their misunderstanding. To repent. He was the one who inadvertently gave them the belief that they were Promathia’s children.
-I feel awful for Jabbos. It’s not his fault. We know that the Moblins were in fact children of the Twilight God. Their enmity for the races of Vana’diel was the result of Promathia’s curse. He just accidentally told them the truth.
JABBOS: “No… the Tavnazian priest told me… our legend was wrong… The Moblins were not born of the Twilight…”
WHAT?? I assumed it was fact that the Beastmen were born of Promatha.
-We see a flashback, to this “mysterious” (not really that mysterious, I’m pretty sure it’s Cardinal Mildaurion/Esha’ntarl) Tavnazian priest talking to Jabbos.
She said the Twilight God died long before the beastmen were born. He didn’t create them, but will still return and bring the end of the world.
She also told Jabbos to continue searching for the “true iron giant.” This is important somehow to saving the world.
This is mind-blowing. So the Beastmen were NOT the creation of Promathia, and this new legend, the iron giant, is real.
Current theory: IDK. But I’ll bet this “iron giant” is the same iron giant we first saw as a superboss back in FFIII.
JABBOS: “And when I found him… the slumbering gods… would show me the truth…”
-This iron giant is somehow connected to the slumbering gods?
I’m not lost or confused about this plot. I’ve felt that at times, like in FFVII, that the game was trying to tell me a story and I couldn’t keep up. I don’t feel that right now. I am where I should be. I know what the characters know, have a sense of what might be coming, but don’t have enough info yet.
-Anyway, the Cardinal then took the statue away from Movalpolos for the sake of the Moblins. With the statue gone, the Moblins returned to their digging to search for the iron giant.
They didn’t find it. They found “the crystal that breathes life into Vana’diel.” The fifth mothercrystal.
-The Moblins interrupt us.
They overheard, and they’re pissed. They feel Jabbos tricked them, lied to them, betrayed them. They don’t attack – they do something worse. They turn their backs and walk away from Jabbos.
This is heartbreaking.
-To catch myself up: so the Moblins are NOT the “children of Promathia.” However, they ARE still bound by Promathia’s curse, by the chains of Promathia, to be at constant war and strife.
-This is Jabbos’s chance. He can come with us back to see Cid, and help defeat this curse. Not just for the races above ground, but for the Moblins he cares so much about too.
JABBOS: “Alright… I will help you… to save them… Not us. Them. My friends… the Moblins.”
-We return to Cid in Bastok. He has a lot to take in.
CID: “So let me get this straight. The Keeper of the Apocalypse is actually the reincarnation of the Twilight God? And we’re going to have to fight him!?”
Right there with you.
But that’s assuming Selh’teus actually is both of those things. I’m not convinced. I mean, the evidence is stacking up that way, but Selh’teus just seems too sympathetic for some reason.
-Cid wants us to keep an eye on the Moblins, since they’ll try to lead Selh’teus to the fifth mothercrystal. Seems wise, but we don’t have the resources given Bahamut’s impending slaughter. Instead, we’ll wait for them to finish digging towards the last mothercrystal and try to catch Selh’teus when he moves for it, after the tunnel is done.
-Meanwhile, Cid is working on a project. An airship that can reach Bahamut higher than any man has ever flown. That’s my Cid. While Cid’s working on that, Jabbos will head back to Movalpolos to keep an eye on the Moblins.
-We start to catch up about what everyone else has been up to. Louverance is particularly shocked to hear that Prishe might have the Star of Tavnazia.
-Just then, Ulmia and Cornelia bust in. Prishe has been spotted in Jeuno. Ulmia thinks she’s gone to meet with “someone” (idk who – Selh’teus? Esha’ntarl? Esha’ntarl sounds most likely) and she runs off. Let’s go.
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Mission: For Whom the Verse is Sung (Chains of Promathia, ch.6)
-I enter the palace in Jeuno. New chapter title screen.
”Echoes of Time.”
-Prishe turned herself in at the palace, demanding to speak to someone higher up.
-Ulmia arrives, confused why Prishe would turn herself in.
-Tenzen comes by. He reserved a tavern in Jeuno to discuss next steps.
-Everyone is here. Ulmia, Tenzen, Sir Louverance, the Shikaree Sin Hunters. Separate threads all coming together.
-A few conclusions the group has drawn:
1) Selh’teus has come to thwart the plans of the ancients and steal light from the crystals.
2) The “Divinity of Darkness” that rules over the Kindred was NOT Promathia.
3) The Divinity of Darkness told the Moblins that the Keeper of the Apocalypse has already arisen.
4) The magicite in Prishe’s chest contains the Emptiness of Promathia.
5) Fenrir and Carbuncle confirmed that the Keeper of the Apocalypse was to be born in Tavnazia.
All signs point to Prishe as the Keeper.
-Ulmia fights this. Prishe is so pure of heart, faithful, courageous, and even urged Diabolos to save the world. So it’s not like Prishe has malicious intent here, but her destiny seems clear.
-They also think they Cardinal Mildaurion plans to use Prishe to awaken the Twilight God.
-The general plan seems to be to kill Prishe in order to stop Wyrmking Bahamut from wiping out humanity.
-Ulmia’s having none of this. She flees.
-The group splits up. Tenzen asks me if I agree with the decision to take out Prishe. I can respond yes, know, or “huh?” I go with HELL NO. If any of my choices can avert the “kill Prishe” option, I’ll try.
-I head to Upper Jeuno and find Ulmia. She’s cooled down a bit, and understands the “kill Prishe” reasoning. It may save the world. But is there another way?
-Diabolos may have abducted Prishe into the dreamworld because he knew her identity as Keeper.
-Ulmia has a secret to share. When Prishe collapsed, and her amulet was stolen… she felt the presence of Cardinal Mildaurion.
I FUCKING KNEW IT. It WASN’T Selh’teus who stole Prishe’s amulet. It was Esha’ntarl/Cardinal Mildaurion.
-When Mildaurion took it from Prishe, she said she needed it because “an old, old friend she’d waited a long, long time for had finally returned.” Selh’teus. Esha’ntarl already revealed she was using the amulet to lure Selh’teus.
-This flashback conversation between Prishe and Ulmia has a vague ending. Prishe says Miss Mildaurion “left it to her.” Left what? Keeping watch over the Tavnazian Safehold, even as the Cardinal abandoned it to its own devices? Resurrecting Promathia? Idk.
-Ulmia wants to have her Prishe cake and eat it too.
“I want to sing of a world where both vanadiel and all her people are saved. Will you dream of such a world alongside me?”
Same. If there’s even a chance to save Prishe, we need to take it. (Again, this feels very Buffy-season-5, with the choices around how to handle Dawn given her role.)
-THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!! Ulmia’s like “I wonder if anyone here has seen the Cardinal!” and I’m like “SHE’S THE NEXT BUILDING OVER LET’S GO SAY HI” but only in real life yelling at my computer, not in game.
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Next time: finding Cardinal Mildaurion.
